Kneeling before a gold Buddha statue, Cering Wangdu is painting a Buddha statue with gold powder. The work will be repeated about 200 times Monday, the peak day of the Sakadawa Festival, the commemoration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death.

As a lama in Tibetan Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, 37-year-old Cering Wangdu has been kneeling almost everyday at the Buddha statue for half the holy month, painting gold powder on the statue revered by Tibetan Buddhists in the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region.

The statue is located at Jokhang Temple, the holy shrine in theheart of Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China. The statue was believed to be the real-size statue of 12-year-old Buddha. It was brought to Tibet by a Chinese princess of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century and is widely revered by the Tibetan Buddhists.

Many Buddhists donate generously to the lamas, servants of the Buddha, asking them to paint the statue with gold powder to make it more majestic, Cering Wangdu said.

"I usually paint the face with gold powder for about 100 times and paint the body for about five times each day in the Sakadawa Festival," he said, "each painting is carried out to help rid mundane miseries and bring blessings to the common people, and help the wishes of a person, a family or a group of Buddhism believers come true."

Long braids woven with coral beads hanging down their backs, traditional robes knotted at the waist and a rosary around their necks, pilgrims shuffle orderly in and before the temple, with yakbutter candles and hadas, scarves symbolizing the sincere wishes of the Tibetans, for the Buddha statues.

To paint the face of the Buddha statue needs about three grams of gold powder worth 360 yuan (43.37 US dollars) and to paint body of the statue needs about 64 grams costing 7,680 yuan (925.30 US dollars), said Gyaibo Sengge, a lama in charge of gold powder purchasing in the temple.

The believers can either bring gold powder themselves or buy it from the temple.

Thousands of Tibetan Buddhists made pilgrimage to Lhasa and donate to "reshape the gold statue" in Tibetan new year festival, the Sakadawa Festival and farming free season in winter.

As the gold powder accumulates on the face of the Buddha, lama stake some off to keep the features clear. The powder is then used to decorate the other statues in the temple, Cering Wangdu said.

"The face of the Buddha statue is getting fat in festivals, just like the pockets of the common Tibetans. About 20 years ago, the temple usually painted the statue less than 20 times in the peak day of the Sakadawa Festival, and took off gold powder from the face only one time each year," Cering Wangdu said.

Nowadays, the temple usually take off some gold powder from the statue about three times each year. And each year the removed gold grows heavier, he said.

43-year-old Tubdain, a pilgrim waiting in the long queue at the temple, came all the way from Jomda County in Qamdo Prefecture, about 1,400 kilometers from Lhasa.

"In the past five years, my family is becoming more well-to-do. We bought a truck and could take the fellow villagers to make pilgrimage to Lhasa each year. My family decided to donate a gold power painting for the Buddha statue this year," Tudain said.

"For hundreds of years, generations of Tibetans have made pilgrimage to Lhasa, rolling prayer rollers and kneeling down prostrate towards the sacred center. Actually they have endured all the hardship to see the sacred Buddha statue and pray for safety, prosperity and a good rebirth of their families," Tudain said.

"Now it's convenient for the Tibetans to make pilgrimage to Lhasa. In the past, it took several months to make pilgrimage from northern Tibet to Lhasa. Many died half way in the pilgrimage. Butnow it takes less than one day by bus. More Tibetans have opportunities to pray before the statue," said Doje Cering, director of the policy research center under Tibet Autonomous Regional Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.

The sacred month started on May 9 this year.

In the month-long holiday, Tibetan Buddhists usually make circle shrines, burn incense, fast from meat and help the poor and the weak to commemorate the kindness and greatness of Buddha, Doje Cering said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2005)